U.S. Retail Sales: May 2020 [EconTax Blog]

Jun 16, 2020 - At one end of the spectrum, the two hardest-hit types of retailers were clothing stores and restaurants, whose year-over-year sales were down 67 percent and 40 percent respectively. At the other end, the two types of retailers that experienced the strongest growth were nonstore retailers (for example, those that specialize in e-commerce) and grocery stores, whose
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/481

Income Tax Withholding Tracker: June 8-June 12 [EconTax Blog]

Jun 12, 2020 - The second graph compares the year-over-year percent change in withholding (withholding this week relative to the same week in 2019) to the weekly changes observed from March through June of 2009, when the state was in the depths of the Great Recession.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/479

The 2020-21 May Revision: Analysis of 2020-21 May Revision IHSS Budget

Jun 9, 2020 - The difference between the May Revision and January IHSS General Fund costs estimates is primarily driven by a temporary increase to federal funding offsetting General Fund costs in both the current and budget year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4253

Income Tax Withholding Tracker: June 1-June 5 [EconTax Blog]

Jun 5, 2020 - The second graph compares the year-over-year percent change in withholding (withholding this week relative to the same week in 2019) to the weekly changes observed from March to June of 2009, when the state was in the depths of the Great Recession.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/477

The 2020-21 Budget: Addressing Revenue Uncertainty in the 2020-21 Cap-and-Trade Expenditure Plan

Jun 4, 2020 - The Governor ’s expenditure plan includes $25  million to expand various climate research and adaptation activities, if sufficient revenue is available. However, such an expansion might be difficult to implement in 2020 ‑21 given the uncertainty about how much funding will ultimately be available.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4250

The 2020-21 Budget: Effect of Lower Cap-and-Trade Revenues on the High-Speed Rail Project

Jun 4, 2020 - The high-speed rail project receives about 25  percent of the state ’s revenues from the quarterly cap-and-trade auctions. Accordingly, the lower the state ’s cap-and-trade revenues, the less funding is available for the project.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4252

Building Permits Update: April 2020 [EconTax Blog]

Jun 2, 2020 - The multifamily housing permit total of 2,899 was not out of line with February and March, but it was more than a third below both the April 2019 figure and the April average over the past five years.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/475

The 2020-21 May Revision: CalWORKs Caseload-Driven Costs in the 2020-21 May Revision

Jun 2, 2020 - As a result of the public health and economic crisis brought on by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the administration projects CalWORKs caseload to average 724,000 cases per month in 2020 ‑21, or about 25  percent above the previous all-time high and more than double the amount projected in the January budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4249

Income Tax Withholding Tracker: May 25-May 29 [EconTax Blog]

May 29, 2020 - Income Tax Withholding Tracker: May 25-May 29 [EconTax Blog] Income Tax Withholding Tracker: May 25-May 29 May 29, 2020 Brian Uhler Bottom Line: Total income tax withholding since March 23 is down about 4 percent compared to last year, although this week ’s collections were above the comparable week in 2019 .
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/474

May 2020 Cap-and-Trade Auction Update [EconTax Blog]

May 28, 2020 - Based on the preliminary results, the state will receive an estimated $25 million in revenue from the auction. As shown in Figure 1, this amount is much less than what the state received from recent auctions—each of which generated over $600 million.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/472